More Than Friends
by Onedayinneverland
Summary: [Complete, BoruSara] Sarada and Boruto have always been close. Chocho thinks they might be a bit too close to be only friends. Mitsuki and Shikadai want to stay out of it, Inojin is way too honest.
1. Chapter 1

**More than friends**

[Two-shot] Sarada and Boruto have always been close. Chocho thinks they might be a bit too close to be only friends. Mitsuki and Shikadai want to stay out of it, Inojin is way too honest.

 **Part I**

"Sarada, it's unreal the amount of things you own," Chocho sighed, using a kunai to open one of the many boxes that surrounded her. She considered how she really should have given it a second thought when her best friend showed up at her door with that many bags of those really good limited edition chips. To her, a chip oath was more binding that a blood one, Sarada knew this well. So well she used it to bribe her into help her moving out.

"I don't own that many things Chocho," Sarada smiled, throwing her a bag, "You're just getting cranky now. Have your chips."

Chocho frowned a bit but still took the offer, taking a couple chips out of the bag before returning to the unpacking task at hand, "Why can't you just stay with your parents? We're only eighteen, you know. We're running out of years to have our parents clean and cook for us."

Sarada chuckled while folding a blanket and putting it on top of her light green couch, "I think they deserve their privacy now that they finally have time together."

"Your dad did not look particularly impressed by this move," but then again, he did not look impressed by much really.

The dark haired girl shrugged with a caring smile on her face, "Papa would keep me under his cape and hide me from the rest of the world all my life if he could."

Chocho said nothing, continuing to look through the boxes for what belonged in living room that they were attending to first, "You know this is much easier when you move from living room to a new living room and not from 'huge room that fits eighteen years of your life' to a whole house-" she then stopped abruptly as something rolled under her feet and almost caused her to fall. She glared blamingly to the item, picking it up from the floor, "where do you want your baseball bat? Is it a living room item?"

Sarada was carrying a box to the other side of the room but stopped to look at her, "Oh, you can put that in one of those corner boxes," she signaled with her head, as her arms were currently occupied.

The other girl pursed her lips at the prospect of walking past all the boxes on the floor again, seriously considering to just throw it and hope it would land close enough to the corner without breaking anything. She then realized Sarada knew exactly what she was thinking and was staring, ready to chastise her, "why do you own a baseball bat anyway?" Chocho attempted to change the subject and reluctantly tiptoed to the corner boxes.

"So I can smash my enemies into pieces, obviously," Sarada spoke sarcastically, then chuckled, "It's not mine, it's Boruto's."

Chocho stopped when the other girl spoke that name. She then turned to the corner boxes where she had just come to drop the bat, "Does everything in these boxes belong to Boruto?"

"Yes, that's all his," Sarada raised her hands innocently when she noticed Chocho's judging stare, "hey, it's not my fault he brings a new toy every time he comes over."

When the house owner raised her hands, Chocho noticed something, using her bat to point at Sarada, "Okay, and what are you wearing now?"

The dark haired girl looked down at her clothes, puzzled, "Jean shorts and a dark blue crop top."

"And where did you buy that crop top?"

Realization dawned surprisingly quickly. She hugged herself defensively, "I didn't buy it-" she paused, mumbling, "I stole one of Boruto's sleeveless shirts and cut it into a crop top because he forgot my birthday and also because no man should be allowed to wear sleeveless shirts." In all honesty, he did look ridiculous wearing it.

"Right," Chocho nodded sharply and dropped the bat in one the boxes.

Sarada knew her long enough to recognize Chocho's silent judgment a mile a way, "It's been at least three years since that," she tried not to sound too defensive about it.

Chocho looked at her friend and back at boxes, mumbling, "This is weird."

"What do you mean?"

The bigger girl pulled a few random items out of the corner boxes, "A lot of your stuff is not actually your stuff."

The Uchiha shrugged, "It belongs to my friends,"

Chocho raised an eyebrow, picking up a tennis ball out of the items and throwing it towards Sarada, "No, it belongs to Boruto."

Sarada caught it and skipped to Chocho with her arms wide open, "Ah, are you jealous?" she smiled, embracing her in a tight hug.

Chocho's eyes widened in surprise as she went to return the friendliness, "Don't think you can distract me with these little rare displays of affection, I shall not be silenced!"

The dark haired girl laughed as she was hugged back, "You know you are my one and only."

"You are forgetting one thing, Sarada. I know these things, I am a girl," Chocho pulled back from the hug, declaring her statement as if that explained everything she had just said.

Sarada looked confused, "What am I, a tree?"

"You are an Uchiha," Chocho pointed at her, "You guys lost the genetic tweak dedicated the emotions a long time ago." She came closer and put her hand's on said Uchiha's shoulders, "Sarada, you're my friend and I love you," she received a smile and took that a cue to continue, "you are also a blind idiot that doesn't realize that whatever you and Boruto have is not friendship. I mean, seriously, sometimes I feel like I should pick up a bat just like that one and smash you two back into reality with it."

Sarada stood dumbfounded at her words, "What do you mean is not friendship? We have been friends for years, we do everything together. I spend more time with him than anyone else in my life."

"Which is a fact and which is the point," Chocho sat on the sofa and took her phone out of her pocket, "I'll give you a second."

Her friend stared at her, "Wait, you don't mean-" realization sunk in, "No way."

"There we go."

"I don't-" she hesitated, absentmindedly grabbing a pillow from the couch to make space for her to sit down, "I don't have a crush on him."

"I agree," Chocho nodded, eyes still glued to her phone, "it's definitely not only a crush anymore."

Chocho's words played over and over in her mind. She could not like Boruto that way, could she? He was her best friend. He had been there for her since she remembers and they did everything together like best friends would. So what if they did spend an awful lot amount of time together and told each other everything? So what if she did feel a bit giddy when he was too close? She just assumed her hormones were affected by how great he always smelled - that's normal, right?

Now that Chocho mentioned this, Sarada wondered if this idea is why Boruto's girlfriends always seemed to hate her with a passion. She remembers mentioning this to Chocho, explaining how ridiculous it was that they considered her a threat and how it earned her only an eye roll followed by a simple 'yeah, totally unrealistic'. She did think sometimes that a lot of that could have been avoided if the blond simply stopped hugging her so often and complementing her every time she tried a new outfit or hairdo. She vividly remembered how once one of his girlfriends simply walked out on them when Sarada distractedly commented on how she might cut her hair short again and Boruto spent the next ten minutes explaining how wonderful she looked with long hair, but still reassuring her she would look lovely either way.

Those girls did not understand how their relationship worked and were overly upset. Boruto was always very keen on his compliments after he became a teenager, especially once he realized how unconfident Sarada sometimes felt because of her glasses. After that, he seemed to always want to make sure she was well aware of how good she looked. Sarada, on the other hand, very rarely mentioned how good her friend look. Of course she knew Boruto was ever so handsome with his kind light blue eyes, confident smile and his body - well, she rather not start down on that road.

Sarada tried to snap out of it, "So what if I get along with him and I think he's good looking?"

The other girl smiled smugly, "I know, you've said so in many previous occasions."

The Uchiha pushed her hair out of her face in frustration, "So I mention a few times Boruto is attractive and I automatically have a crush on him?"

"No, but you did certainly internally freak out at everything I just said, you've mentioned he's good looking without prompting AND you went bright pink just thinking about it," she lifted a finger for each reason, "and that means you have a crush on him," she lifted another finger as she recalled another certainly relevant point, "Oh, that and the past seven years of your life."

Sarada stood from the sofa, seemingly preparing to set forth all the reasons why her friend was not correct… if she found any.

Chocho looked up at her from the sofa, "You don't have to be shy about it. It's normal, about half the village has a crush on him anyway."

The black haired girl did not seem particularly impressed to be clustered with everyone else, "I don't have to be shy about it because it's not true. I've know Boruto forever, he's my best friend and there is absolutely nothing abnormal about our relationship."

The girl sitting on the sofa prepared to again justify her line of thought, "To be honest, I have never mentioned this until now because-" her words were cut short as a loud bang was heard: the front door being slammed open.

"How's my beautiful house owner?" the annoyingly cheerful voice shouted, Sarada now strongly regretting giving a copy of her keys to Boruto.

The blond rushed to his best friend, picking her up easily and spinning her. Chocho grabbed a bag of chips that was near her as a close enough replacement to the popcorn she should have really consider bringing along for this moment.

Before Sarada could say anything, Boruto put her down, kissing her forehead as he shoved a bouquet of red roses in her face.

Sarada could spot Chocho's smile behind Boruto, "Why did you get me these?" she asked the first thing that came into her mind that was non related to the whole conversation she was having before.

The blond tilted his head slightly, "You love red, don't you?" Sarada nodded, looking anywhere but at him.

The tension in the room seemed to go completely over the new comer's head, "Oh, you brought jelly beans!" He spoke excitedly as he looked behind Sarada and spotted a bag of jellybeans sitting on top of one of the unopened boxes.

While rummaging through the bag to find his favorites, he finally noticed something was up - mainly because Chocho was not shouting at him for daring to go near a bag of food he was absolutely sure belonged to her, "Did I interrupt something?"

Chocho rolled her eyes, took him long enough to figure it out.

Sarada stood with her back facing him, too embarrassed to move, she felt frozen on the spot.

"We were just talking about how popular you are," Chocho offered, trying to get the attention away from the other girl. Damn Boruto and his crap timing.

The young man smirked, "Well, I _am_ the whole package."

Sarada couldn't help but grin at this; this was the boy she knew. Sure, now he was becoming a grown man but that changed nothing, and no matter what other people could think of them they still had their own special relationship - regardless of what it was. She was never one to let other people's opinions interfere with her life and she was surely not starting now.

Her discomfort eased away, "Indeed, arrogance and stupidity all in one package."

The blond smirked with a shrug, "Well, a package is a package and you get the best and worse of it. You get the arrogance and stupidity but also the good looks and the charm," he wiggled his eyebrows and Sarada laughed, shaking her head at him.

Out of nowhere he turned to the other girl, "Head's up, Chocho!" The girl quickly got into stance; ready for a game they've played an embarrassing number of times.

"Twenty, let's beat the record!" Chocho exclaimed excitedly, clapping. Sarada smiled at her two friends, putting her flowers into some fresh water.

Boruto threw a jellybean and Chocho easily grabbed it with her mouth. The game continued for a few minutes until one jellybean hit the floor. Sarada was standing in a corner watching them while folding some clothes; when she noticed the fallen jellybean she glared, "You guys better not mess up the house," she warned.

"Yeah, there's no way I'm wasting another full day of my life cleaning this place again," Chocho spoke, dramatically throwing herself on the sofa.

"It wasn't a full day," Sarada interjected, mumbling something about five hours.

"Hey," Boruto called out to Sarada. She looked at him, trying her best to think of cats and dogs and literally anything else that could not bring her back to the conversation she had with Chocho.

"What would you give me if I got this jellybean in your cleavage?" He asked, holding up a colorful jellybean.

Sarada glanced at him sideways, throwing one of the clothes she was holding in his direction, "A concussion."

Boruto laughed, Chocho stared and Sarada counted sheep, which she was sure was a technique best used for when someone is trying to fall asleep but at this stage she really could not care less as long as it worked as a distraction.

"Well, I gotta run guys," Chocho spoke, getting up from the sofa.

"Will there be tigers chasing you? Because that's the only way you'd ever run," the blond spoke, still holding on to the shirt Sarada had thrown at him.

The big girl eyed him, "I rather run from tigers than be stuck in here with you."

"I'll miss you too, Chocho,"

"Whatever," said girl sneered, a raised middle finger added for effect.

Chocho said her loud goodbyes to Sarada as the girl silently wondered if it would best to ask her to stay and continue to have her watching her every move or go and be alone with Boruto. Chocho didn't give her much choice; she simply patted her on the back and made her way to the door, making sure to close it well behind her.

"Want your shirt back?" Boruto called out to Sarada, "I'll trade it for mine."

She walked closer to him and pointed to the top she was wearing, "What, this old thing? It's a bit too short for you, isn't it?"

"That's because someone decided to cut it in half," the blond spoke as he threw himself onto the sofa that Chocho previously sat on, legs up and hands behind his head.

"It was a bit too long, looks much better like this, doesn't it?" Sarada spun a bit just to annoy him.

Boruto smirked, "If you left it long you could wear it as a dress."

"If I left it long it would still not be long enough to be a dress," she smirked back, "Also, now that I cut it short there is no way you will ever have it back."

He shrugged, "I wouldn't get it back either way, I'm not crazy enough to stand in between an Uchiha and their stuff. You guys are like dragons and gold."

Sarada sat next to his legs on the sofa as he shuffled a bit for her to have space, "you only know one more Uchiha other than me."

"That was enough to learn my lesson."

"Speaking of which, how long are you going to keep training with my dad?"

"Until he kills me, probably."

Sarada gave him a look and Boruto rushed to sit up, "You think I'm kidding?" He swiftly removed his shirt and showed his friend the newer scar that still glared dark red in his abdomen.

Sarada carefully brushed her fingers over it, "What happened?"

The blond noticed her concerned look and regretted ever mentioning this, "It's nothing, really."

She looked up at him, "This is not nothing, Boruto. You should really see my mom about this."

Boruto's eyes widened as he held her hand away, "Oh no. Every time I see your mom then the next day I have to work triple. I'm sure she tells him off and then I have to pay again."

Sarada crossed her arms over her chest, "Well, if papa does that to you he deserves to be scolded."

The blond grinned at her, "Ah, looked at you so worried about me!" he threw himself at Sarada, embracing her. His weight caught her by surprised and she was pushed back to lie on the sofa with Boruto on top of her.

The blond eventually heard her muffled cries from under him and pushed away slightly. Sarada opened her eyes and at first everything was a blur; her glasses were gone, Boruto was still leaning shirtless over her, one arm to each side of her head and his necklace dangling close to her face. She felt her blood rush to her face, a combination of his eyes staring intently at her, his bare chest being barely inches away and his smell being the only thing she could actually sense.

She tried to stop her brain form going mad the way it was. Yesterday she would have pushed him out as soon as he fell on her, mumbling about how he weighted as much as a horse and disguising her small blush.

Today she was looking at him and thinking if he ever meant anything else by all these little moments. If he ever felt like he could stay like this forever like she did right now.

She could swear she could even spot a small blush on his face. No. She needed to concentrate. She needed to remember Boruto was her friend; her unfortunately very attractive friend.

The blond man opened his mouth but Sarada spoke first, pressing one of her hands against his chest, "Boruto, stop."

He blinked at her, "Stop what?"

Sarada sighed, closing her eyes to focus. She opened them again with a more serious look, "Don't you think this looks weird?"

Boruto blinked again, confused, "What does?"

 _To be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

AN: First I must apologize; my two-shot story has now become three chapters long. This is because I like to maintain story chapters within a similar number of words. I don't know how my stories always end up longer than I plan them to be -.-'. Thank you for reading, have a great day!

* * *

 **More than friends**

Chapter 2

The blond man opened his mouth but Sarada spoke first, pressing one of her hands against his chest, "Boruto, stop."

He blinked at her, "Stop what?"

Sarada sighed, closing her eyes to focus. She opened them again with a more serious look, "Don't you think this looks weird?"

Boruto blinked again, confused, "What does?"

"This!" She spoke with irritation, looking around to see if he would realize the same thing she now did, "this whole-"

Noticing the hand on his chest, Boruto pulled back a bit, "Oh, you mean my shirt? I can put it back on-"

She looked away from him, "That's not what I meant-"

"Oh, you want it to stay off?" Boruto interrupted with a playful eyebrow wiggle.

"THIS, this is what I mean." Sarada gestured at him and earned little more than a confused stare as a response, "this is not normal."

The blond stayed quiet, which was considerably out of character for him. Sarada suspected this had very little to do with the nature of the conversation and a lot more related to the fact he had no idea what the hell was going on.

She sighed, "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Boruto prepared to make another unrequired joke that went somewhat along the lines of 'I usually don't'. Once he spotted how serious Sarada seemed to be about this whole issue, Boruto stopped himself. After all, he was quite fond of his nose and he didn't much want Sarada to break it.

He opted to answer with a hesitant shrug.

Sarada was angry. How can this idiot not know what she was talking about? It had clicked in her brain immediately when Chocho mentioned it but to him… maybe it was such an outrageous concept that he couldn't even realize it.

An angry temper took over her. Boruto was caught by surprise as Sarada picked up a pillow from the floor and repeatedly slammed him with it until feathers were flying everywhere,

" . .know!", she spoke through gritted teeth.

The young man crawled off the sofa ungracefully in surprise, putting his arms up to defend himself as he felt his bottom hit the floor.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Boruto tried to stop her but the girl only came to a standstill when there was nothing left of the pillow to hit him with and they were completely surrounded by feathers. By this stage, Sarada was struggling to catch her breath while standing over a truly confused and somewhat scared Uzumaki. Someone should really do something about these unpredictable, bipolar Uchihas. Not him but, you know, someone.

"Are you-" the blond hesitantly started, "are you okay?"

Sarada said nothing, her shoulders still trembling from all the exasperation she was trying to contain.

Boruto came to the conclusion that showing weakness would probably be a mistake. Uchihas don't mix well with weakness but they do freeze at awkwardness and open displays of affection. He decided to try a different, more familiar approach.

"You know," he smiled slyly, "you're quite sexy when you're annoyed with me."

"Then I must be damn near irresistible right about now," Sarada sniped, firmly ignoring the (not entirely unpleasant) tingle in her stomach.

She stared at him while her annoyance slowly gave way to a bit of remorse. It was not Boruto's fault that he was an idiot and considering how blind she had been herself, she was really not in a place to judge him. She looked away from him as she sat on her knees.

The blond half-sat, half-laid on the floor in silence, all too cautious of Sarada's mood swings.

They sat in silence for a minute until Sarada decided it would drive her mad to not speak of this again. It was now or never.

"Chocho thinks," she started, trying not to give a second thought to how much the words she would speak would change their relationship, how far it would take them and how she would never be able to come back from this.

"Chocho thinks what?" Boruto quietly encouraged her to continue.

She sighed and looked away from him, "She thinks our relationship is weird."

His eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Our relationship is weird?" he tilted his head slightly, "I guess it's a bit weird that our parents were mortal enemies and we get along so well. Then again they're annoyingly inseparable now, God knows which one is worse."

Sarada's eyes narrowed, "the first one. The first one was worst and almost caused the destruction of the world as we know it. But that's not what I meant."

The twitch coming up under her eye was clear indication to the blond that he should really manage this situation before another pillow was sacrificed.

"I'm sorry, I'm a dumbass," he spoke, he dragged himself closer to her and sat, crossing his legs under him. He then leaned towards his friend, his hand edging closer to hers as if he was asking permission to hold it. Sarada looked at his hand, considering the offer. He took that as permission, entangling his fingers with hers.

"I can see this is important to you," he spoke gently, "so… you were saying our relationship is weird?"

So he was smart enough to notice that but stupid to the point of not comprehending the obvious. All this kindness was making Sarada hate him and like him more, building up to a feeling of uncertainty she had felt a few times before.

"Yes, as in, you know…" she spoke, Boruto stared. He definitely did not know.

"Oh for the love of-" she released her hand from his in a quick move. Taking a deep breath in, she blurted out, "she thinks we act like lovers, not friends!"

Boruto blinked once. He then blinked again. After about five deadpan blinks he rushed to his feet and remained frozen in stunned silence.

Sarada stared at the floor; yes, it was pretty much going exactly as badly as she predicted it would. She stood, hesitantly facing him, "Are you okay?"

"I-" he started, "I don't know what to say."

This uncharacteristic silence and Boruto's stare caused Sarada's confidence to start wavering. What was she thinking, bringing this up with him? What good would it cause them to have tension added to their perfectly stable friendship?

She battled the idea that somehow Boruto would be completely aware of these rumors and could put her mind to rest with a dismissive joke. Either that or he would experience that strange excitement she had earlier about the possibility of their closeness meaning much more than friendship.

Sarada regretted these thoughts. She felt embarrassed for ever mentioning this to her friend and for ever considering there could be more to their relationship than both of them thought.

"I'd say nothing. Nothing's good. Go with nothing," she hurriedly spoke.

Boruto took her advice for once in his life and remained in silence.

To be completely honest, it was not the first time he had heard of this at all. He imagined this was such as much of a shock to Sarada as it had been to him the first time he was told about it by none other than his first real girlfriend who had pleasantly asked him to 'please stop staring at Sarada for a second so I can break up with you'.

He went through a surprisingly long phase of denial after that. That denial remained pleasantly dormant until this whole Chocho business.

But why would Chocho bring this up now? Boruto thought back to the last week or so, and couldn't see how his harassing behavior towards Sarada was anything stray from the norm.

Boruto lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head awkwardly, "What do you think?"

"I don't know," Sarada muttered, trying to avoid eye contact, until the blond sighed loudly,

"How do other people behave in different gender friendships? What do we do that so abnormal?"

Sarada shrugged, going through a mental list of her male friends.

"I guess if you think about it that way I've only hugged Mitsuki about three times in my life."

The Uzumaki nodded, "Yeah, I don't really hug girls in general." Their eyes met and the fact that this conversation was not exactly working out in their favor was clear.

The awkwardness was then replaced by a silent mutual agreement that maybe this matter was best left buried and ignored as it had been up until this point.

"Maybe that means it's just something about us two," Boruto offered helpfully, a confident smile taking over his features.

"Yeah," Sarada agreed as she stood up from the floor, "we've know each other forever, it's not like we are the same as any other couple of friends."

He stepped closer to her, "of course. We're best friends, that's what we do."

She nodded vigorously in response, "Maybe some other best friends do it and we just never really paid attention."

"Exactly!" Boruto exclaimed, excitedly wrapping his arms around Sarada.

The blond smiled when he felt her face against his chest and her arms around his torso. His still very naked torso.

'Oh, no', the Uzumaki thought to himself as he felt her tense up in less than a second as she realized the shirt was absent. He rolled his eyes but did not let her go, "Sarada-" he started.

"You're still naked."

"Yes, well-"

"I did not realize you were still half-naked."

"Sarad-"

"I don't know what's worse, hugging you half naked right after this whole conversation or having done this so many times that it didn't even pop up in my mind that you were not fully dressed until my face was literally rubbing against your skin," she blurted out, edging away from him.

Boruto tightened his grip on her, resting his chin on top of her head, "Nothing has changed. It's just me, it's okay," he spoke gentle words of comfort until her wriggling settled down.

"Oh my God, my dad thinks we're together," she blurted out suddenly.

Boruto inched back in surprise, "wait, what?"

The dark haired girl took the chance to step away from him, "he bullies you all the time and you said his mood swings are getting worse. This explains why."

Boruto gave her a wry look, "it's not mood swings exactly. It's more like emotional parkour." He sighed, "you're making it sound like it's new behaviour, it's really not."

She glanced at him, "you said it was getting worse," she pointed at his wound, "if he did that every day you'd be dead by now."

Boruto instinctively covered his wound, looking around for his missing shirt "this is nothing." He got dressed while his friend was busy pacing around the room like a crazy person.

The blond massaged his temple, "Sarada, please-" she stopped to glare at him, then resumed her pacing, "you're being dramatic, it's fine." He was again ignored. "Look, the guys will be here in a minute and we'll ask them what they think."

Her pacing came to a halt. He took that as a cue to continue, "we can't just take Chocho's word for it, you know how she gets.

Sarada seemed to consider this, giving him a reluctant nod after a while. It really didn't mean much if the other boys didn't notice anything, as they were blind to half the things happening around them anyway. However, if they did notice there was definitely something to worry about.

If there was one thing Boruto could not cope well with was the feeling of powerlessness when it came to Sarada. He could not bear to see her like this, pacing around a room, a worried mess about something that seemed partly his fault. 'Partly' as he would forever blame this whole ordeal on Chocho and her ability to mess with people's lives like a village Oprah.

Sarada picked her glasses up from the floor. She put them on and faced her friend with a sad smile, "what if we can't go back to what we were before, Boruto?"

It had been a while since Sarada had seen her friend as tense as he looked right now.

A loud bang was heard for the second time that day, as the door was again slammed open, this time by Iwabee's strong kick.

"Thanks for the help, guys!" He shouted sarcastically, "couldn't you find a heavier table?"

Mitsuki smiled at them as he came in, holding on to the other side of the heavy piece of furniture.

"I swear fifteen years of shinobi training could not prepare me for how troublesome it is to move out," he continued as he walked in between the couple, "where would you like your massive table my lady?"

"The kitchen, please." The lack of comeback from Sarada surprised the boy.

He narrowed his eyes and look back and forward from Boruto to Sarada, "Right," he started, "kitchen it is then."

Boruto continued to stare at Sarada, her last words ringing continuously in the back of his mind. His lips pursed, "Mitsuki, forget that."

Boruto held his friend back and Iwabee was left on the other side of the table, mouth gaping open at the weight slammed on him. Before he could phrase his indignation at this insult, the blond spoke,

"Do you think there is something weird about Sarada and me," he wavered momentarily, "About our relationship?"

An awkward silence followed.

Iwabee was the one to break the silence by the table's wood scraping across hard floors as he tried to ever so gently drag the piece of furniture to a room where this conversation was not happening. Three heads snapped to look at him, he waved dismissively and whispered, "just pretend I'm not here."

"Let me help you-" Mitsuki tried but the darker boy stopped him,

"Nah, you do your thing. I'll just drop the table in the kitchen and leave through the window so I won't bother you guys."

Boruto and Sarada exchanged a look. This was a conversation that neither their friends nor themselves seemed particularly keen to have.

Iwabee found strength in his purpose to avoid the conversation at all costs and fully independently dragged the table to the kitchen, flinging the door shut. All at a surprising speed.

"I will ask again," Boruto stepped closer to the blue haired boy, "Do you think there is something weird about our relationship?"

Mitsuki leaned against the kitchen door, internally praying for someone to save him.

At his lack of response, Sarada rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Ask the guy who calls you his sun, that will work out."

Boruto did not take his eyes off his pale friend, trying to encourage him to answer.

"Hm," Mitsuki spoke, the same familiar smile stuck on his face.

"Hm?" Boruto repeated, "'Hm' is not an answer."

He nodded, "I don't want to answer."

Boruto tried to stress the relevance of his question by grabbing the other boy by the shoulders, "Mitsuki, this is extremely important and NOT optional."

Mitsuki wondered how many times in his life had he dropped hints about how his two friends would make a great couple straight to their faces and the equivalent number of times he had been ignored.

He liked them both. He understood them both. Separately. They were quite easy to comprehend separately. Now when we joined the 'BoruSara' spectrum, things became much more complicated. Complicated as in it would be easier for Mitsuki to figure out how to send a rocket to the moon than understand whatever the hell those two were to each other.

Boruto and Sarada had an incredible relationship like nothing he had ever seen before. They trusted each other as friends do, they worked well together as colleagues do and they played so often near the couple line that sometimes he felt like he had stepped too much into their world.

Their relationship was close, and almost ridiculously romantic. He decided the best way was to say just that, it seemed harmless enough.

"I think you are very good friends,"

His two teammates released a relieved sigh, "Yes, thank you!"

"You have a very close relationship," Mitsuki continued and the other two's smiles started to waver, "Overall it's very romantic."

Sarada fought the urge to punch him; Boruto slapped his own forehead with his palm, shaking his head at the missed chance to put this conversation to an end.

Mitsuki realized their disappointment and desperately tried to make up for his words, "But it's a good thing," he nodded, "it just means that you have such a special friendship that borderlines on romance!"

Sarada rubbed her temple, "please shut up, Mitsuki."

"No, I really mean it." He stepped towards his friends, "You work really well together and you care for each other but then you get those little couple aspects that most relationships don't have-"

He did not find the need to stop at the other two's bewildered expressions, "You buy each other random stuff," Mitsuki continued as Boruto raised his hands to signal his friend to stop.

"You share food," Mitsuki continued, ignoring the blond's plea, "You are touching constantly," he added, "you care too much for each other's dates,"

Sarada snorted loudly. "That is not true," she pointed at Boruto, "if I cared about the girls this idiot dates I would have stopped him from going out with brainless bimbos every two weeks."

Boruto poked his tongue out at her. Mitsuki shrugged, "Well, you have dragged me along to a few of his dates." He got himself a scowl from Sarada, whose cheeks were now tinted with a curious shade of pink, for his disloyal statement. "You know, the most promising ones," he continued, making everything worse.

"Yeah, that's true." The blond nodded to Sarada with a confident smirk, crossing his arms in superiority, "you've dropped by my dates loads of times."

"I do that so we-" she pointed in between her and Mitsuki, "can make sure you are not dating someone that could try to murder you at some point!"

The blond looked away in slight embarrassment, "That only happened once."

Sarada rested her hands on her hips, "You didn't want to stop the date when she tried to kill you."

Boruto shrugged and looked at Mitsuki for support, "in my defence she was hot."

The Uchiha flipped her hair over her shoulder, "THAT is why we drop in on your dates."

"I'm old enough to know what's best for me."

Sarada scoffed, "dying is best for you?"

"It doesn't matter! You don't have the right to interfere with whom I date."

Mitsuki muffled a laugh. They turned to him in unison, "what?"

"I was just thinking back to that time when _you_ interfered and threw Sarada's date from a third story window."

The girl gapped at them, "You did what?"

Boruto's right eye twitched; Mitsuki appeared particularly interested in giving away secrets today. The blond turned to Sarada and tried to explain himself, "He was a shinobi and he was fine."

"I'll assume you knew that," Mitsuki interrupted.

The blond gave him a betrayed look as Sarada recalled the event, "he broke an arm."

Boruto waved dismissively at her, "He has two."

Their fight continued as Sarada accused Boruto of violence and he in turn condemned her for sabotage. It was puzzling for Mitsuki how his two friends could behave like this all the time and still miss the reason why people took them for a couple.

Mitsuki guessed love was blind after all. Or at least these two were.

 _To be continued…_


	3. Chapter 3

A.N: Welcome to the last chapter of More Than Friends, enjoy!

* * *

 **More than friends**

Chapter 3

Mitsuki stared blankly at his two best friends as they shamelessly discussed details of their skillful date manipulation in front of him.

"What did you even like about broken-arm-guy? He was boring," Boruto exclaimed, a defensive look on his face.

Sarada sounded perplexed, "he was a serious adult that was able to carry out a normal conversation."

"Is that the parameter of choice? Why don't you date Shikadai, then?"

Boruto's eyes widened slightly as he instantly regretted that suggestion. What if she liked the idea? What was is about Sarada and her obsession with responsible-adult types? Is it a daddy issue thing? What was wrong with guys that went with the flow and were kinda genetically lucky and physically blessed?

The girl stared at him in surprise; why on God's green Earth would she date Nara frickin' Shikadai? The guy literally had no energy. Sarada liked people who at the very least fought back.

As if summoned from his sleep, Shikadai's voice was heard as he slowly pushed the front door open, "Hey, guys."

"Shikadai, welcome!" Shikadai eyed Mitsuki suspiciously at his strangely enthusiastic reception.

He walked slowly towards his friends, studying the unusual distance between Sarada and Boruto, and how Mitsuki seemed to be edging towards the door. He raised an eyebrow, turning to the blue haired boy, "Why are you so happy?"

"Where in the world were you?" was the only answered he received.

Shikadai shrugged, "I fell asleep."

Mitsuki glared at him, another unusual behavior.

Shikadai raised his hands defensively, "I was tired! Alright? We've been carrying furniture for hours. You're like a force of nature and never tire out."

A collective eye roll was his only answer.

"I woke up as Iwabee dashed past the van," he recalled with some interest, "what was up with that?"

The others exchanged a look but said nothing.

"Well, it's the first time I've been the chattiest in the room, specially when I'm sharing it with Boruto." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood, but the awkward silence remained.

What was up with these guys today? Sarada was avoiding eye contact, Mitsuki was chatty and Boruto was glaring at him. Those were some proper personality swaps going on there.

The silence broke as Boruto sighed, resting one hand on his hip and another pointing at the couch, "Shikadai, have a seat."

As Boruto was speaking, Shikadai spotted Mitsuki mouthing 'getoutnow' from the corner of his eye.

"What's happening?" The spiky haired boy eyed him suspiciously, "Are we going to have the talk? 'Cause I must say you're coming a little bit late for that, dad."

None of his friends laughed or made any smart-ass remarks. Shikadai took this as a cue to sit down and shut up.

After he sat, Boruto turned to him, "I know it's hard to believe…" he paused, looking at Sarada for approval, "…but Chocho says we," he stopped, waving between him and Sarada, "act like lovers, not friends."

Shikadai's lips pursed as he nodded sharply, "Glad I was sitting down for that."

Sarada rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day, "let me guess, not surprised."

The boy smiled apologetically, "Is grass green? Is water wet? Is the Hokage powerful? Is-"

"We get it." Boruto interrupted.

The blond thought back at what Sarada told him and how much it caught him by surprise… and how much it _didn't_ seem to surprise his friends. Truly, he had been aware other people thought there was much more to their relationship than friendship, and truly, he couldn't care less.

He assumed other people told him about their suspicions instead of Sarada because they knew how an Uchiha temper could cause true damage (they distinctively remembered how much trouble it got the village into last time it happened); and they definitely did not cope well with embarrassment.

The friends he shared with Sarada never mentioned anything. He could spot their occasional looks but never more than that. Never, until now.

It wasn't like he had never noticed how beautiful she was and how she had grown from a pretty girl to a well-known goddess.

He was Sarada's friend and that only made it easier for him to realize how smart, strong and dedicated she was. How she was kind to everyone, how her words seemed to calm down even the most frightening of criminals, how she managed to spend time with him despite her ridiculously dedicated training and studying times.

He would also never admit how his body felt a little too happy being close to Sarada. He would never mention how many times he had dreamed about her. Specially, he would never talk about how much it pained him to look away every time she moved and her cleavage accidentally showed too much or how hard it was to not stare at her every time she happened to bend down. Those were forbidden topics; Sarada was his friend and friends don't check each other out - no matter how many attractive, distracting curves their body has.

So what if he noticed those things? He was her friend but he was _not_ blind. Would he still slap anyone into oblivion if he noticed a poor soul going through the same distraction he did when he was near her? Of course he would.

Sarada herself snapped him out of his Sarada-related daydreaming, her face inches away from his as she hissed,

"Boruto, I'm sure you are having the most interesting conversation with yourself in that little brain of yours but right now we are loosing the battle."

"Hm?" Boruto looked behind her to find Shikadai way too confident; his arms crossed behind him, resting on top of the couch, legs propped up. He was decidedly winning whatever discussion they got themselves into while the blond was otherwise preoccupied.

"Oh, don't mind us," Shikadai smirked, "we were only going through your inability to have a relationship."

Boruto snorted loudly, "That's not true," he turned to Sarada, "You had that guy, what's-his-face."

At Sarada's glare, the Uzumaki gulped, turning back quickly to the other two, "and I've lost count," he smirked confidently and crossed his arms.

His friends appeared collectively unconvinced.

"A _real_ relationship." Shikadai repeated slowly, as if speaking to a child.

The blond shrugged, "What's a real relationship anyway?"

Sarada massaged her temple, understanding somewhat what the other two were saying, "Someone that listens to you, understands how you feel, gives with attention..."

Boruto snorted, "I don't need a real relationship. For those things, I have you,"

As Sarada raised an eyebrow at him, realization took over his features, "Oh, I see."

Shikadai interrupted with his Dr. Phil tone of voice, "since we're offering constructive criticism I think we can help," he pointed at Boruto, "you're never that serious about your dates."

The Uzumaki uncrossed his arms and held them out in frustration. Sarada attempted to cover her smile with her hand but Shikadai again interposed, pointing at her,

"You don't try that hard."

"Wha- why should I try hard?" Sarada spoke with indignation, "They should appreciate me for what I am."

"Your dates are more conversations that anything else." Mitsuki helpfully added.

"It's like you use up all your flirt with him," he vaguely pointed at Boruto, "and then end up having TED talks on dates."

The blond smiled confidently at her, happy that the conversation had turned away from his lack of seriousness on dates, "See what's the problem with dating 'serious adult types that are able to carry out a normal conversation'?"

The girl looked betrayed. How dare he use the conversation they had before against her? They were teaming up just a minute ago! But Sarada was not one to stay behind, so she answered him with the fakest smile she could muster,

"If we're using earlier recommendations maybe I should date Shikadai."

Boruto's face lost all color. Shikadai choked on air for a second, "Excuse me?"

The blond tried to interrupt the conversation before it went any further, "I said it but I didn't mean it." He then turned from Sarada to the Nara's heir with a hiss, "Shikadai, she will have fun with you, get bored and dump you, that's how she operates."

Shikadai propped himself up on the couch, "we can have fun and then you can dump me, I'm totally up for it."

All the other three gapped at him in surprise. He shrugged; so what? It might be his last chance to go out with Sarada before these idiots realized they were made for each other. The girl was a sight and it wouldn't hurt his popularity. His mom would love the idea.

"Shikadai…" Boruto started, a feeling of jealously taking over him. The dark haired young man raised his arms in defense,

"I'm kidding!" Shikadai then turned to Sarada and winked, "unless you're down for it."

The dark haired girl laughed at his idiotic flirting. Boruto didn't think it was half as funny, "I will kick your ass," he threatened.

"Why would you?"

Mitsuki interrupted with a smile, "I believe it's because Boruto doesn't feel threatened by the uninteresting people Sarada usually goes out with but he can spot some potential in you."

The Uzumaki and Uchiha then both started arguing with him. Boruto over the fact the he did NOT feel threatened and Sarada over the description of uninteresting.

Shikadai took the chance to crawl of the sofa and try to discreetly make his way to the door.

"What are you doing?" He heard a familiar voice call from above him. Shikadai looked up to find Inojin with a couple boxes under his arm.

The Nara heir coughed to hide his embarrassment and stood, dusting his clothes from all the crawling, "We were having the forbidden talk thanks to our team mate that decided today was as good a day as any to tell them and then ditch."

Inojin sighed in relief, "Finally."

The 'forbidden topic' was a well-known conversation within their group of friends. It was a shorter version of 'there is no Boruto without Sarada, the same way there is no Sarada without Boruto - no matter how dumb they are not to realize it'.

The blond smile, "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this."

Shikadai felt the hair on the back of his neck stand, "Inojin, what are you going to do?" Said blond dumped the boxes on the floor and confidently strode towards the fighting team 7. Shikadai followed him cautiously.

The fighting trio stopped their exciting discussion to look at the new arrival, waved slightly and proceeded.

The Nara sighed as Inojin gave him a confident smile; today was the day.

"Guys," Shikadai started, but the other three ignored him.

"GUYS!" He shouted. Three curious heads turned towards him and became quiet.

Shikadai cleared his throat; as a team leader, he felt he should approach the subject himself, "I don't know how to tell you this,"

"We all think you guys are banging behind our backs." Inojin stated flat out, cutting the conversation short.

"That's probably not how I would have done it." Shikadai mumbled.

Boruto and Sarada stayed silent in stunned surprise.

Inojin nodded at his friends, "Glad I made this awkward for you. I'll just make my exit."

The blond made his way to the door with his confident stride. Shikadai blinked once before realizing this was his now or never chance to escape. He swiftly grabbed one of Mitsuki's long sleeves and dragged him to the door.

In less than three seconds, Boruto and Sarada were alone again.

The blond hesitated for a second before turning to his friend, a sheepish smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his head, "Well, that didn't go as planned."

The Uchiha glared at him and stomped towards the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.

"Sarada-" he called out, following her there. He knocked gently on the door.

"I need two minutes away from you." She spoke from the other side, trying not to sound so angry as she did before.

Boruto sighed, pressing his back against the door, "I'm sorry."

A feeling of guilt came out on her voice, "You don't have to be. It's my own fault for bringing this up without even thinking about it." This was not her. Her regular self would have thought about this for at least a couple of days, considering all angles, instead of just blurting it out to him.

"Are you okay?" The blond asked.

"I need to think." Sarada spoke in a mumble from the other side.

Her quiet voice only made him worry more. "Sarada, please let me be there. I won't say anything, I promise. I'll just be quiet and let you think." Boruto hated to feel powerless. To be away from his friends when they needed him most. To not be next to Sarada when he was the reason of her worries.

The Uchiha sighed. She might as well let him come in; worrying about him worrying was a ridiculous cycle that was taking her no where. "Come in."

Boruto slowly open the door and found her sitting on the empty kitchen counter. She understood his silent question, "I came in here to sit away from you and then realized I don't have any chairs in the kitchen yet." She did have a weirdly positioned table left as Iwabee had dumped it before he ran off.

The blond made his way towards her. He tried to think of what he would do normally to comfort her before today. Before anyone had given them a reason to rethink their friendly actions.

Boruto approached her, standing in front of her, he leaned forward to have a closer look at her expression but her hair was covering most of it. He came closer until he felt her knees against him. They were almost at the same height as she was sitting on the counter.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly, gently pushing her hair out of her face, but to Sarada it sounded like an annoyingly caring tone that would eventually distract her from the point she was trying to make as it always did.

Sarada looked up to him, looking him straight in the eye. She was trying really hard to speak to him, she really was, but those damn blue eyes were doing the same thing they ever did and completely distracted her from whatever it was she was trying to say. This was much easier if he just stayed on the other side of the door.

She raised her hand to cover his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Boruto asked as he stood with eyes covered, one hand to each side of her. He tried to break the uncomfortable silence with a typical joke, "are you having kinky thoughts?"

Sarada sighed, trying to disguise her smile, "Shut up, Boruto. I need to focus to talk and I can't do that with you looking at me."

"Just tell me," he then moved to hug her but halfway realized it might be too much after what just had taken place so went to kiss her cheek instead. Having his eyes covered and Sarada dodging his movement at the same time caused said kiss to be placed instead on her neck.

Boruto pulled away, his eyes still covered but a clear grimace on his face, "that was not you cheek, was it?"

"No."

"Right, sorry." He shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

Sarada was about to tell him how it was okay until she realized this was what probably got them into this mess in the first place, "Boruto, this has to stop."

He tilted his head slightly. As his eyes were covered Sarada still had the courage to continue, "friends don't kiss other friend's necks."

"This was the first time I did that!" He sounded offended.

"It's the first time you kissed my neck and what is going to happen from now? What it always does. You and I do things by accident then we repeat it and it suddenly becomes normal." She spoke so loudly and fast she struggled to regain the control of her emotions after.

Boruto huffed, "that never happens."

The dark haired girl raised an eyebrow, "remember the first time you picked me up?"

"Of course, it was the day we became chunnin, it was an amazing occasion!" He spoke excitedly.

"Yes, and how many times have you done it since?"

Boruto seemed to be attempting to recall the number of times he had done this in the past. He gave up quite quickly, opting for the rebuttal option instead, "Well, in my defense you're cute and cuddly and made to be picked up."

The Uchiha's anger was starting to boil, "or when we sneak into each others bed?"

Boruto froze for a second. The girl could feel his skin heating up under her hand, "that- that, okay, so that happened by accident and then it became a thing but just in really heartbreaking occasions when we need to be loved at night."

Sarada flinched, "Please don't put it like that, you're making it worse."

The blond was becoming annoyed himself, "so, what is the problem? We like each other too much?"

His words surprised Sarada enough that she removed her hand from his eyes and used it to push her hair away from her face. She looked away and stuttered slightly, "I-I don't know. I don't- I dind't think it through as much as I wish I did before I had a chance to speak to you."

Boruto was annoyed. He was annoyed at how this idiotic discussion started because miss blabber mouth Chocho decided this was an issue, at how his friends all conveniently became experts at relationships, but most of all at how this affected Sarada. She was a wonderful person and she did not deserve to be worrying this much because for once she was not in control. It hurt him to see her like this in a way that was completely new to him.

"So, maybe we should be in a relationship." He blurted out suddenly.

Sarada's dark eyes widened, "what?"

He nodded, confidence taking over, "I don't want to give up what we have. I don't want to have to stop myself and think that any of what we do is wrong."

Sarada continued to stare, lost at his words. Boruto continued, "What is there not to love about you? You're smart, funny, drop-dead gorgeous. If what it takes to keep your mind at ease is for our relationship to have an official title, by all means give it one."

The Uchiha's face burned red. She tried to appear confident by sounding sarcastic, "Sure, now that you made it sound so romantic how can I say no."

Boruto had that Uzumaki-confident look that could convince you to jump of a cliff if he stared long enough. But Sarada was an Uchiha and if Sasuke taught us anything is that there is nothing harder than convincing an Uchiha to follow his heart.

"Boruto, we can't be in a relationship just because of what everyone else thinks."

The blond looked baffled, "why not?"

Sarada couldn't think straight, she was struggling to manage her emotions and hide her embarrassment all at the same time, "because- because there are ingredients to it. You have to get along with that person,"

The blond nodded, "check,"

She continued, "find the person attractive,"

He grinned, "not a problem,"

Sarada looked anywhere but at her friend, "you have to love them,"

He nodded confidently, "I love you,"

The dark haired girl was anything but pale right now. She put her hands on his shoulders and tried to shake him awake, "oh my god, Boruto. Can't you think? Can't you think how embarrassing it will be to be… intimate, with me?"

Boruto had the decency to look slightly embarrassed, "well, I didn't really think about it but if you insist."

The blond was lying. Sarada was his closest female friend since the beginning of puberty. Obviously, he had thought about her many times in many colorful ways, willingly or in horny-adolescent-induced-dreams. Obviously, he appreciated being alive and would much rather keep his mouth shut than having his head impaled at Konoha's gate.

Her level of self-consciousness shot up from moderately embarrassed to wishing for the power of invisibility as Boruto's intense gaze focused on her.

"Kill me now," Sarada murmured.

She raised an eyebrow at him after a few seconds, "are you done yet?"

"This is your fault too." He pointed out, "you could be really ugly and save us all the trouble."

She tried not to smile at his ridiculous theory but failed miserably. Her smile turned to a laugh and Boruto simply stared as he felt something swell inside him. That feeling was the problem. That feeling that seemed to grow stronger as the years passed.

Sarada was able to control her laugh eventually. She pulled her friend's cheeks, "You're an idiot."

He wiggled his eyebrows, "This idiot convinced you to start a relationship with him."

Sarada smirk, crossing her arms, "A 'relationship' is a extremely vague term. We could be starting a hate relationship."

He snorted, "That's not a thing." He then realized what was missing, "Oh, you want a proper request?"

Sarada opened her mouth to defend herself but failed. Yes, that was pretty much what was missing.

"Aw, you're blushing." He leaned towards her for a hug. Sarada planted a hand on his face,

"Say one more word-"

He interrupted, leaning back after the threat, "okay, okay-"

"So," Boruto started again, straightening his shirt. He took her hand and leaned forward, his hips against her knees, "Sarada Uchiha, will you be my girlfriend?"

Sarada froze on the spot. The blond looked absolutely calm and she felt a wreck; her mind was gone and her idiot hormones had pretty much taken over.

She shrugged in a failed attempt to appear confident, "what do we have to loose?"

"Our dignity, our friendship, our team?" He smirked but Sarada felt each and every one of those words.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, "I thought you were all for this idea."

"I am." He smiled, "are you?"

His smile gave her the assurance to say: "if it doesn't work, I promise I will forget."

Boruto smiled back, trying to hide his excitement, "okay, we'll promise to forget then."

"Okay, Uzumaki Boruto," Sarada looked at him with the purest gaze, "I accept your request."

The blond's smile seemed to fade slightly at her words. The dark haired girl felt her confidence wavering, "what are you-?"

She started, but Boruto interrupted her quietly, "I'm just going to do barely anything, I promise," and then Boruto edged closer to her, followed by an uncertain hand on her shoulder.

There was a light press of lips, so brief Sarada wasn't even sure if it classified as a kiss at all. She cracked an eye open, then the other, once the comforting warmth of shared body heat had vanished.

"That's it?" Sarada asked, disbelievingly.

"I thought you'd shove me or something!" Boruto defended, his face a discreet shade of red. If Sarada didn't know better, she'd think Boruto was blushing.

She smirked, "For a guy that had so many girlfriends one would think you knew what a real kiss felt like."

Boruto took a step back with more indignation that Sarada had ever seen in him before. That lasted but a second before he returned to his usual self and this time _really_ pressed against her, a hand on her back bringing her forward and the other touching her neck.

Then, Sarada had the real kiss she had asked for.

 _The end_

* * *

A.N: Thank you very much for reading my story! I hope you all enjoyed it. Please review and let me know your favorite parts; I love hearing from everyone and improving my writing from your advice. Have a wonderful day! ^-^


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